On some days, the heat in Indian cities feels uneven — almost unfair. One neighbourhood remains tolerable, while another swelters under trapped warmth from concrete, traffic and waste. The difference isn’t always visible. It lies in surfaces that absorb and retain heat, in landfills slowly decomposing beneath the sun, and in industrial pockets radiating stored warmth.
For years, cities have relied on complaints, ground reports and visible damage to respond to such risks. But heat — especially the kind that builds inside landfills and urban infrastructure — often escapes notice until it turns into smoke or flames.
That may be beginning to change.
SatLeo Labs, an IN-SPACe–incubated Indian space-tech startup, is using thermal satellites, AI and drones to help cities see heat and pollution as they form in near real time. By turning temperature data into actionable insights, the startup is helping local governments move from firefighting to foresight, and from guesswork to climate-smart planning.
Most Indian cities fall within warm-humid, hot-dry or composite climate zones, making
them naturally prone to high temperatures.
To see how this technology works beyond the lab and why it matters for everyday urban life, we spoke to experts working at the intersection of climate, technology and urban planning.
Why are Indian cities heating up faster than ever?
Most Indian cities fall within warm-humid, hot-dry or composite climate zones, making them naturally prone to high temperatures.
“But urban development is intensifying this baseline heat in dangerous ways,” says Surjyatapa Ray, Associate Manager for Urban Policy at Jana Urban Space Foundation. “With limited open space for dissipation, this trapped heat raises land surface temperatures, giving rise to pronounced urban heat islands.”
And then there’s the landfill problem. While waste collection has improved across Indian cities in the past decade, segregation and recycling remain woefully limited. According to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data from 2021, nearly 19% of municipal solid waste is sent directly to landfills, while close to 32% remains unaccounted for — likely dumped in open plots or informally burned.
What is less understood is how much landfills heat their surroundings.
For city administrations, the consequences of this accelerated heating are no longer theoretical; they are
unfolding as public health and economic crises.
Decomposing waste generates methane, a greenhouse gas that traps nearly 86 times as much heat as carbon dioxide over 20 years. In India, where most municipal waste is organic and segregation levels are low, methane emissions from landfills are particularly intense.
“Landfill methane behaves like a hidden heat trap in cities,” says Ray. “The presence of the gas silently and steadily heats the surroundings, while also polluting the air we breathe. Controlling these emissions doesn’t just help the planet — it makes cities safer, healthier and more liveable for their citizens.”
What does this rising heat mean on the ground?
For city administrations, the consequences of this accelerated heating are no longer theoretical; they are unfolding as public health and economic crises.
“Heat today isn’t just discomfort, it’s a silent killer and an economic disruptor,” Shravan Bhati, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SatLeo Labs, says. “According to data obtained by PTI under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, India recorded 7,192 suspected heatstroke cases and 14 confirmed deaths due to extreme heat between March and June 2025.”
However, the impact of heat is deeply unequal.
Landfills are typically placed on a city’s outskirts — near marshlands, low-lying tracts or flood-prone zones where development pressures are minimal, explains Ray.
Much of this damage builds quietly, long before it becomes visible. That invisibility is precisely the gap
SatLeo Labs set out to address.
“As cities expand, these peripheral zones are gradually absorbed into the urban fabric, and informal settlements often emerge near landfills. This spatial overlap places already vulnerable populations at the frontline of compounded heat exposure and environmental risk,” she adds.
Much of this damage builds quietly, long before it becomes visible. That invisibility is precisely the gap SatLeo Labs set out to address.
“We wanted to solve this gap by giving cities a real-time, hyperlocal view of heat, so they can act before a crisis unfolds,” says Bhati. The idea behind SatLeo emerged from a simple but powerful belief: space technology should solve real problems on Earth. And that is exactly what they are doing through thermal intelligence.
So what exactly is thermal intelligence?
Think of it like a medical thermometer. Just as a doctor measures body temperature to detect illness before symptoms worsen, thermal satellites measure the Earth’s temperature from space to spot trouble early.
“Every object — be it roads, buildings, waste dumps or crops — emits heat. Our satellites capture this invisible heat using infrared sensors,” says Bhati.
Unlike traditional satellites that rely on visible light, thermal satellites measure heat directly at all times. “We can see through smoke, haze and thin clouds. This helps detect problems before they become visible,” adds Bhati. “We don’t just see images; we see temperature behaviour. And that tells a story long before the human eye can.”
Thermal data by itself is massive and complex. That’s where artificial intelligence comes in.
These abnormal heat signatures can signal early warning signs such as waste decomposition inside landfills, methane or gas build-up, underground fires, water stress in crops or intensifying urban heat islands.
Where AI turns data into action
Thermal data by itself is massive and complex. That’s where artificial intelligence comes in.
“AI is what turns it into something usable for city officials,” adds Bhati.
At SatLeo, AI algorithms study temperature patterns across time and space. They learn what is normal for a city, a landfill or a neighbourhood, and then flag what is not — for example, a waste dump heating faster than usual, a neighbourhood that remains consistently hotter than surrounding areas, or farmland showing early signs of water stress.
Instead of sending municipalities raw satellite images or dense datasets, the system translates these signals into clear, prioritised insights.
“Think of it as a smart assistant that reads satellite data so humans don’t have to,” explains Bhati.
The result is a dashboard that municipal officials can easily understand, showing exactly where problems are emerging and what needs attention first.
This matters because city officials rarely have the time, staff or technical capacity to sift through complex climate data. “AI helps them focus attention exactly where intervention is needed before a situation escalates into a fire, a health emergency or a full-blown crisis,” adds Bhati.
By combining satellites, AI and easy-to-read dashboards, SatLeo is helping cities move away from reactive governance towards early, informed decision-making — where heat, pollution and risk are addressed before they spiral out of control.
From thermal maps to real-world impact
The real test of any technology isn’t in a lab — it’s on the ground. For SatLeo, that proving ground has been Tumkur, a Tier-2 city in Karnataka about 70 kilometres from Bengaluru. Like many emerging Indian cities, it has been expanding rapidly, leading to rising temperatures, increased waste and pressure on limited municipal staff.
On the ground, this rapid growth created a major challenge in monitoring the aftermath of expansion. Tumkur’s solid waste dumps spread across nearly 40 acres, making it impossible for city teams to monitor the entire area in a single day. At the same time, heat stress was intensifying across industrial zones and dense neighbourhoods, especially during peak summer months. Still, officials lacked clear data on where the problems were first building up.
To bridge this gap, SatLeo deployed a mix of satellite data and drone-mounted thermal sensors over Tumkur. These sensors captured high-resolution heat images that revealed urban heat islands — areas significantly hotter than their surroundings. Inside landfill sites, the thermal data highlighted specific pockets where decomposing waste was generating heat and emitting gases.
For the city administration, this visibility changed how decisions were made.
“With the help of new technologies like thermal intelligence via satellites and drones, we can now see and solve problems faster, whether it’s GHG emissions above solid waste, the heat pattern of a city or open dumps. This project is about making our city safer, greener and more comfortable for every citizen,” says Ashwija B V, Managing Director and CEO, Tumakuru Smart City Limited and Commissioner, Tumakuru City Corporation.
The same data also reshaped how Tumkur approached heat mitigation.
“For instance, plantation drives are being strategically targeted in areas already affected by heat island conditions, rather than being undertaken indiscriminately,” explains Bhati.
Urban policy experts say this kind of city-wide visibility is especially valuable for municipalities like Tumkur.
“It captures land surface temperatures across an entire city in a single sweep — something ground-based monitoring rarely achieves,” says Ray.
(From left) Urmil Bakhai, Co-founder & CSO; Dr Ranendu Ghosh, Co-founder & CTO; Shravan Bhati, Co-founder & CEO.
By making invisible heat and pollution risks visible, Tumkur has been able to prioritise action, save time and use resources more efficiently. In the process, the city has moved from reactive firefighting to precise, data-led planning, offering a glimpse of how Indian cities can prepare for a hotter future.
What worked in Tumkur isn’t unique to one city but offers a clear lesson for building sustainable, climate-ready cities. When local governments can spot rising heat or landfill emissions early, they can step in before health risks, fires or environmental damage escalate.
“This is what climate resilience looks like in practice,” Ray adds.
This early-warning approach directly supports Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11, a United Nations goal focused on making cities safe, inclusive, resilient and sustainable, and strengthens SDG 13, which calls for urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts, especially as extreme heat and pollution become more rampant.
Where this technology can go next
What SatLeo is doing in Tumkur is just one use of a much bigger idea. Once cities learn how to read heat and pollution as early warning signs, the same technology can be applied far beyond landfills and city streets.
One major area is agriculture.
“Thermal imagery helps identify crop stress early, even before plants visibly wilt,” Bhati explains. “This allows governments and farmers to optimise irrigation, reduce water use and improve yield outcomes — especially during heatwaves.” In drought-prone regions, even a short lead time can make the difference between saving a harvest and losing it.
The technology also holds strong potential for flood preparedness. By analysing temperature and moisture patterns, thermal data can help assess soil saturation and water movement, offering early signals of flood risk and enabling better planning before extreme rainfall events.
In natural disaster management, thermal intelligence becomes even more critical.
“It enables early detection and monitoring of wildfires by identifying hotspots, tracking fire progression in real time and assessing damage after an event,” Bhati says. Similar signals can also indicate infrastructure stress or emerging risks across large, complex landscapes.
By combining satellite data, AI analysis and on-ground validation through drones, cities and states can build early-response systems that are faster, more targeted and far less reactive.
In a country where climate stress touches everything from the food we eat to the air we breathe, the ability to see the disastrous effects of heat and act on them isn’t just useful. It’s essential. And with startups like SatLeo, that shift is already underway, one city at a time.
